Should the CEO of a company posting billions in annual losses receive a 50 percent raise and a six-figure bonus? And I’m not talking about the banks, or the crumbling auto companies. I’m talking about the U.S. Postal Service. ABC News reported last night that the postmaster general, John Potter, received almost an $80,000 raise last year — his base salary is now $263,575 — along with a $135,041 “incentive bonus.” This in a year when the Postal Service posted a $2.8 billion loss. Throw in retirement benefits and other perks, and his annual salary comes to more than $850,000. I don’t…
Monthly Archives: February, 2009
The president hasn’t yet signed the economic stimulus bill, but you can already get a glimpse of Recovery.gov, the Web site intended to track stimulus spending. There isn’t much content on the site yet, of course, but the one thing we find interesting is the timeline at the bottom. It sets out milestones for agencies — federal, state and local — to begin reporting on their stimulus spending. A few highlights: On May 3 (75 days from now), agencies release “performance plans” on how they’re using their stimulus dollars; On May 20, they begin reporting their competitive grants and contracts;…
The House of Representatives may soon send a message to the United States Postal Service — you’d better deliver the mail six days a week. Facing falling revenues, the USPS has suggested a series of cutbacks, including eliminating Saturday mail service. That didn’t set well with four representatives, who introduced HRes 173 Friday: “A resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service.” The resolution, sent to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is sponsored by Reps. Samuel…
President Barack Obama sure is having a hard time finding someone to lead the Commerce Department. His first nominee, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, bowed out in early January because of an ongoing federal investigation into one of his political contributors. Obama’s second choice, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, abruptly withdrew his nomination last week after deciding that he couldn’t work in a Democratic administration. Now all eyes are on Obama to find yet another candidate for the unheralded position. But there’s another solution, says Derek Shearer, a former deputy undersecretary at Commerce under President Clinton. In this commentary from…
The division of labor in Washington is interesting. Staffers on Capitol Hill must be relieved that the economic stimulus bill has passed through Congress; at federal agencies, though, the work is just beginning. (Today is a well-timed federal holiday — a bit of calm before the storm!) There’s an interesting article in the New York Times about state and local governments scrambling to compete for stimulus cash. This is, after all, the largest infrastructure investment in generations. Several states said they have dozens of projects ready to start within six months — including at least 5,000 transportation projects. All of this…
How will agencies spend stimulus money? Let me count the ways. According to Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., agencies have five different ways they can disburse their stimulus funds and meet tight spending deadlines in place under the bill: “By formula,†meaning agencies will use existing statutory requirements for programs like highway infrastructure investments or Medicaid to determine how much each state or municipality is entitled to. “By competition,†meaning states, localities or contractors will submit proposals for grants and contracts. “By demand†to programs with eligibility requirements, such as unemployment insurance, education grants, small business loans and food stamps. “By one-time…
The Senate is expected to vote later Friday on the conference report on the $787 billion economic stimulus package, sending the bill to President Barack Obama in the next few days. Earlier Friday, the House voted 246-183 to approve the conference report for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which merged the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. No Republicans voted for the report, while seven Democrats voted against. When the House voted on the bill last week, 11 Democrats voted against it. The Senate is discussing the stimulus package now on the floor, though a…
The Energy Department is about to get the power to hire people much more quickly. The final version of the stimulus bill includes a provision that allows the department to “recruit and directly appoint highly qualified individuals into the competitive service” when there’s a severe shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need. Excepted service and Senior Executive Service positions will be excluded from Energy’s direct hire authority. But aside from that, Energy will have a wide berth to decide when it needs to directly hire employees, and for what positions. The stimulus bill can be downloaded from the House…
Although the details of what should be the final stimulus bill have only just been made public, earlier this week the White House ordered agencies to get cracking on plans to manage and oversee the unprecedented amount of spending they’ll be asked to do. In a Feb. 9 memo first reported by Government Executive, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag wrote: Meeting these commitments will require sustained focus by managers throughout the federal government, particularly in planning, awarding, managing and overseeing contracts and grants. Departments and agencies should immediately begin developing plans…
The Senate last night voted to confirm Leon Panetta as the CIA’s new director. Panetta and new Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair have promised to reduce the size of the intelligence community’s contractor work force, and pledged to bring interrogation positions almost entirely back in house.